2024-02-29 06:56:25
There were more State Security agents at Juana Bacallao’s funeral than officials from the Ministry of Culture.
The funeral of the iconic Cuban artist Juana Bacallao was marked by a notable absence of prominent figures of Cuban music and culture, except for the presence of three personalities, including Alpidio Alonso, Minister of Culture, a fact that is being highlighted by Internet users from images that were released.
Few attendees at the cemetery and a room at the Calzada y K Funeral Home are, at this moment, the talk and point of convergence among Juana’s devotees who cannot explain how it is possible that the death of such an iconic figure has gone practically unnoticed in reality, when messages of pain followed one after another on social networks.
However, it is fair to point out two or three details. Although it is true that on Sunday morning there were very few, no, very few people at the funeral home and the Colón Cemetery, the day before, Saturday, more people came there, according to one of the relatives of the legendary Juana told a source. .
However, the images that circulated, of what was seen on Sunday, are what has transcended; and in these images no known face can be seen, except perhaps the figure of Alpidio Alonso. Raúl Torres was not there, nor Israel Rojas, nor Arnaldo Rodríguez, nor Annie Garcés, nor Fidel Díaz, nor any of the many artists “committed to the Revolution.” Apparently the guidance for them to attend was not circulated and they did not mobilize to the call of the Homeland.
Neither were Abel Prieto nor Luis Morlote. Fernando Rojas didn’t even show up for all that.
As the journalist Siro Cuartel would say, “There were more slimy and sleazy people in the undeserved awarding of the José Martí National Journalism Prize to Arleen’s (Rodríguez Derivet) Ñinga speech, and in the reading of the book, presumably of poems, by Abel Prieto’s mujeranga.”
“They all went to the Book Fair, without books; or for the Salsa Festival, with the four brainless musicians they have left, whose only interest is to see how they make money, and to see if the exile gets bored and tired of poking their fingers and takes a little trip to look for dollars, ” Cuartel concluded his post, visibly upset by the absence of cultural officials and people at Juana’s funeral.
Yin Pedraz Ginori expressed himself in the same sense, who questioned “where the hell were the people?”
Another who was greatly upset was El Divo de Placetas.
Jorge de Mello was also amazed and upset, along with hundreds of other people linked in one way or another to culture and literature.
De Mello, in a kind of epitaph, took a mythical phrase said by Juana some time ago and said that, if Juana found out about the few people who came to say goodbye to her, she would undoubtedly repeat it:
“It’s my fault, darling”
For others, however, the detail that stood out was not the non-presence of celebrities, but that of members of State Security.
The discreet handling of Bacallao’s death and the information about where and when the last goodbye could be said to the artist contrasted with the intense surveillance deployed both in the Calzada y K funeral home, and in the cemetery, by State Security.
According to sources, there was a directive “from above” for security agents to be present at the Calzada and K funeral home, with the aim of controlling the situation in case the funeral attracted a large crowd and got out of control, taking into account that “The US Embassy is right across the street.”
In a context where it is feared that even a funeral could turn into an uncontrolled popular demonstration, security agents were particularly attentive to people they considered “strange,” especially those who were filming with their cell phones.
Even in an incident that occurred inside the funeral home, a young man who was going to read a few words in the cemetery was approached by the agents, who asked him for the text to review what he was going to say and asked him not only to identify himself, but they also questioned his relationship with the victim.
Telesur journalist and daughter of a Cuban general Fabiola López, sent to the place to report the mortuary funerals, competed with this attitude.
Given the low influx of people in the morning, López drew from the learned manipulation manual and instructed attendees to position themselves in a certain way in the room to create the impression that there were more people than actually attended. A “scenographic setup” that was interpreted by the mourners and few attendees as an attempt to manipulate the public perception of the event.
This funeral, far from being a simple act of farewell to a cultural figure, has become a scenario where politics, state security and the media have played a significant sexist, racist and classist role; with some notable artists, women and black women close to the regime, such as Laritza Bacallao and Brenda Navarrete, completely ignoring the fact on their social networks.
“TO ME THE PINGA, DARLING”I would say – I repeat – from beyond, our excellent Juana Bacallao.